Weekly Ten: Lagos is a Big City

ONE: Lagos and Ibadan have been listed among 10 leading African cities to watch for investment inflow in a report containing research carried out by Frontier Strategy Group, an international research firm. Lagos was listed among the five top urban markets across Africa alongside Johannesburg, Accra, Luanda and Nairobi, dubbed “The Big Five Cities”. While Ibadan was part of the “up-and-coming” prospects due to its rapidly expanding economy and high potential rewards albeit with serious business climate deficiencies.

TWO: Statistics reveal that between half and two-thirds of Nigerian women are subject to domestic violence, which includes physical, sexual and psychological abuse, in their homes. Laws, lack of police response and a culture of silence and endurance are listed as the major reasons these rates of abuse are so high. Acid attacks are also becoming more widespread in Nigeria.

THREE: Swedish-made sex dolls have recently entered the Nigerian market to the alarm of puritanical critics who have described this turn of events as “a sign of the end and the return of Sodom and Gomorrah”. While a lot of attention has been paid to the almost real skin texture of these sex dolls and its expensive price tag, there is still not enough discussion on how much the sale of these sex dolls in Nigeria say about Nigerians hot and cold attitude towards sex, as well as the poor state of sexual education within the country.

FOUR: Last January, the Central Bank of Nigeria started trading in the Chinese currency Renminbi (RMB) and has since transformed 500 million U.S. dollars in RMB. Nigeria may be the only African country to have made this move to increase cooperation with China and to offset the weakness in U.S. dollars and euros.

FIVE: Nigerian entrepreneurs, GravitasBay has opened Nigeria’s first Facebook shop that allow consumers to buy from the site using Interswitch. The shop offers CAT and Timberland footwear.

SIX: Over 1 million divorced women, widows and single women in search of husbands in Kano, under the Voice of Widows, Divorcees and Orphans Association of Nigeria (VOWAN), have alerted the Kano State government of their desire to find husbands to marry them. The government of Kano state, Dr Rabi’u Musa Kwankwaso decided it was a good idea to marry these women off in something similar to a public auction however VOWAN is not happy with the slow pace of the government’s plan.

SEVEN: Nigeria is among the top countries with soaring numbers of malnourished children on the African continent. There are more malnourished children in Nigeria than there are in Ethiopia. There are initiatives underway to address food insecurity and malnutrition in orphans and children who have families that have been infected or affected by HIV/AIDS. Malnutrition in Nigeria is linked to social and economic issues that plague the country with states in Northern Nigeria having the highest numbers of malnourished children.

NINE: There has been a fire inside the National Assembly complex in Abuja that affected the Legal and Accounts department of the National Assembly Service Commission. The fire has been described as “mysterious” and “suspicious” as it may have affected sensitive official documents even though it did not cause serious damage. The reason for the fire has been given as an electrical fault.

TEN: The Nigerian government continues to employ tactics in response to the Boko Haram threat continue to confound me. The Lagos State government demolished five mosques in Alausa following reports that the religious sanctuaries could be used as a cover by Boko Haram extremists. I wonder if they considered the possibility of other mosques being uses as covers, how about homes? How many will be demolished then? On the other hand, the federal government urged Boko Haram to “respect the sanctity of human lives” and to engage in dialogue. I wonder, given the extra judicial killings and undue violence towards innocent citizens that characterises the Nigerian police force, why the government doesn’t seem to take its own advice. Meanwhile we now know that there are at least two terrorist groups in Nigeria following the kidnapping of foreign nationals working in the North, which Boko Haram is the federal government talking to? However, there may be some hope.

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